Don't Even Think About Calling This A Defense

Hey! What a complete and total shock!  A guy who’s nothing but a bonehead out on the ice said bonehead things on an uncensored talk radio show!  Geez, what is it with you people and attacking Cam Janssen?  Yes, he said some truly awkward things that the New Jersey Devils probably didn’t want attached to one of their players.  And yeah, it was uncomfortable to watch and listen to some of his jokes but you guys are really missing the genius moment in this interview.  I swear I’m not being sarcastic in any way with this last statement. Pinkie promise.

Before Janssen gets rolling with his gay jokes, cracks about “fat broads”, and other unprofessional moments, there’s this moment of “holy crap this could be a really excellent interview”.  So please, don’t stop the mob that you’ve set after him, he’s fully deserving of all the crap that’s been slung his way for this interview (ditto for the DJs) but rewind the video back to 3:14, where the DJ mentions being shocked, as a fan of the NHL, that LA could have a hockey team.  Watch that segment there.  I’ll wait for you.  

Finished?  Good.  Where else are you going to get an interview that honest about losing the Stanley Cup?  There is no way in hell Martin Brodeur is giving an interview saying how great an LA Kings Stanley Cup win is good for the NHL without sounding super scripted.  Here you have Janssen in a, clearly, brutally honest moment where he is able to see the bigger picture of this sport.  

It’s really unfortunate that this sort of honestly had to come out in such an awful interview (to be fair, on a scale of 1-10 I’m at like a 5) but amid all these comments that only perpetuate the “dumb jock” “bro” tendencies of the NHL there is this thought and I wish more NHLers could share that view.  Scripted interviews come off sounding so stilted, watch any Crosby interview where he’s not talking about how much he loves the game and you know it’s not his words.  And I don’t blame the NHL for scripting the comments players make.  This is what happens when they don’t take that precaution.

So please, in the future, don’t let your players give interviews like this unless you want the whole internet to pick up their pitchforks and torches and lead the charge against your players.  But when boneheads like Janssen are able to see the benefit of their team losing the biggest series in their hockey season (and some of them it’s the biggest in their career) you gotta have hope that those thoughts will spread.  You’re not going to take homophobia or misogyny in one fell swoop and no matter how hard the Burkes campaign for You Can Play, not everyone is going to be on board.   And I'm not even touching Janssen's comments about retallation out on the ice, I'll leave the puck dropping to Brendan Shanahan. You can’t change a player and his thoughts by fining him or whatever the Devils (if anything) decide to do, and you can’t expect players in this media saturated world to always have the company line on the tip of their tongue.  What you can do is use his postive thoughts on the LA Kings winning the Stanley Cup as a member of the losing team as a “what to do” when giving an off season interview and the rest of his interview as a “what not to do”.  

Be honest guys, just remember to watch your words.